Remember to Enjoy Your Workouts!

I’ve had two reminders to be grateful for workouts this week. Literally. “This here pool is a blessing to be grateful for,” said AdMo-Pool-Lady-Judy this morning. 

Yesterday I had a similar reminder. After a pool run on Capitol Hill,  I overheard two older women chatting in the locker room. One (let’s call her Wig-Lady) was asking how the other was doing. “I’m just so grateful to be swimming,” the friend responded. 


“Yes,” Wig-Lady nodded sagely. “It is a blessing.”

And then as I left the locker room she smiled at me, “You have a blessed day now Sweetheart!”

Awww thanks! And I did have a good Monday!

(Sidenote: Nice older women are the only people allowed to call me 'Sweetheart.')

This morning I arrive at the AdMo pool, just doing my thing, and started running (in the water, obviously). An older woman was treading water in the deep end and as I approached her she called out, “What you so serious for? You look like someone’s punishing you! Just getting it done, tsk-tsk. Uh-uh, you gotta enjoy it! We gotta be grateful that we’re here!”

That shook me – she’s so right! I went to the pool thinking, 60 minutes, just get it done. Not in a miserable way, but definitely not in a fun way either. And two reminders in as many days - that's got to mean something, right?

Her name is Judy, and she explained that she treads water for 2 hours a day to stay healthy…then spent the next 60 minutes giving me dating advice and telling me about her sex life (Haha! Seriously. I was a captive audience, literally, and desperate for entertainment).  

And both women are right – whether running or pooling or cross-training or whatever, it’s easy to sometimes forget that this is what we do for fun. Instead of worrying about getting the X number of minutes/miles/laps/etc. in before work, we should focus on enjoying it! 

Sorry to get all philosophical on you, but as I left this morning and Judy, just like Wig-Lady, told me to have “a blessed day, enjoy it!” I thought alright, I will!

For more about running for happiness, read this post. 

Also, I love this post I write a while ago about The Best Feeling in the World.

Weekend Report: Labor Day Stay-cation

I bookended my summer with yet another stay-cation. The three days went by quickly, and though I didn’t do a ton, there was certainly a significant amount of reading, pooling, and lounging…

On Friday night I met some friends for the summer’s penultimate Jazz in the Garden. I strongly believe that instead of sweating through jazz on Fridays in the summer, they should start these evenings now and carry them through the fall. It’s sooo much more pleasant when the weather’s nice!

Saturday SpeedyKate and I met for a truly epic pool workout (2 hours!), then I metro’d down to the Corcoran for their final Free Summer Saturday. The special exhibit is Chris Martin: Painting Big, aka ridiculously large abstract paintings. 

One of my (many) favorite things about art museums is the writings on the wall. For example, “Martin’s paintings are often quite literally big, in the sense that many of his canvases are towering fields of color and pattern, yet they are also big in concept and in spirit, incorporating the gamut of experience, from personal memories to James Brown to the sublime. Although his paintings are lush and playful on the surface, they are embedded with traces of private stories and layers of history.”

I love it. It’s completely over-the-top pretentious and ridiculously awesome. If I knew more about art I would totally write these things. (And yes, that's a chicken walking on the above "painting in progress.")

Sunday marked another pool running day, but pre-pool get this…dun dun dunnnnn…I WENT FOR A RUN! It was only 2 miles and felt absolutely terrible (in a I-haven’t-run-in-a-month sort of way), but nothing really really hurt, so I’ll count that as a win!

Between running and heading to the pool, I stopped at Yola to get a cup of coffee to go. Let me set this up properly – I was hungry, and really sweaty (it was disgustingly humid), and all I wanted was to be on my couch drinking coffee and watching Track Worlds. So I got my coffee and bee-lined it home. 

As I walked through Dupont Circle, a pigeon ran into me!!! It was taking off, and umm didn’t see me? It smashed into my hand, aaaccckkkgaahhh!?!?! (that sound applies to me, not the pigeon). I watched in slow motion as my coffee hit the sidewalk. Nooooooo! I pitiful/angry whined. I noticed a girl sitting on a bench watching me with a look of concern and surprise. 

“A pigeon just ran into me! I can’t believe that just happened! And now my coffee’s gone and there’s pigeon on my hand!” I tried to justify myself. Ugh. This would have been funnier had I not already been so cranky…

After sufficiently recovering from my avian mishap, I headed to Rumsey to pool with SpeedyKate and 6x6. (What are friends for but to cheer you up with a challenging workout?)

After the workout we went to Peregrine Espresso to enjoy some delicious coffee (theirs iced, mine hot, no pigeons included).

Sunday night was an extra night of weekend…so what to do? Nothing crazy - 6x6 and I hung out chez SpeedyKate and ordered in Indian food. Yumm!

Monday morning I took advantage of the day off by hitting up a morning movie in Georgetown ($6). Crazy Stupid Love slightly exceeded my expectations (they were low). Some friends told me it was depressing, but I thought it was really happy! There were a few moments of cringe-worthy clichés, but other than that let’s just agree that Ryan Gossling is my ideal man and move along…

Then it was time for my 3^rd pool workout of the weekend (total minutes in the pool in 3 days: 270, aka 4.5 hours) . 6x6 “coached” me through an hour of fast repeats (1 minute, 2, 3, 3, 2, 1, 10x1) to the consternation of everyone else lounging around the Francis Pool. And then I went for another run (23 minutes!). Because I am a bad-a**. :) 

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend too, whether it involved an actual vacation or a Mollie-style stay-cation! 

The Best Pool Running/Aqua-Jogging Workouts

When done right, pooling/pool running/aqua-jogging is an extremely effective cross-training option. The following workouts are designed to build and maintain fitness (and sanity) while in the water.

My days in the pool are numbered, and I’m sure you’re as sick of hearing about it as I am of doing it...but in case you’re looking for some swim-spiration (see what I did there? I’m sorry.), these workouts will keep you in shape and ensure that your transition out of the pool and back to running goes as smoothly as possible. 

And if you regularly pool run as a part of your training program, these workouts are guaranteed to work you out - anyone who thinks the pool is for sissies should spend a week with this list and then reconsider.

Go here for more info on the benefits of aqua-jogging. And here for a list of DC's public pools. 

I like to use a flotation device (aka “floaty belt”) because it allows me to focus on my form. If you don’t have a floaty belt, your pool time will be more of an upper body workout, so try to be conscious of maintaining a good upright running  posture.

These workouts range from 60 minutes to 2 hours. You can easily adjust them if you’re looking for shorter (or longer? yikes!) workouts. You only really need 5 minutes warm up/cool down in the pool. Or you could do fewer reps of each interval.

(Occasionally I do a simple steady pool-running for recovery, but even on easier days I tend to do some sort of workout for my sanity's sake. It can be booooring to stead-run in the pool!)

Long Run Pool Workout – 120 minutes total, 36 minutes hard running

(Tired-face. Much like a long run, you may need to lounge on your couch and have people bring you food after this workout.)

• Warm up 30 minutes.
• 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes recovery. Repeat this 5-minute interval 6 times.
• 5 minutes recovery “jog.”
• 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes recovery. Repeat this 5-minute interval 6 times.
• Cool down 25 minutes.

Speed Work Pool Workout – 75 minutes total, 30 minutes hard running.

(This is the hardest pool workout I’ve done – like difficult-to-walk-up-stairs kind of hard.)

• Warm up 20 minutes.
• 2:30 hard, :30 recovery. Repeat this 3-minute interval 6 times.
• 5 minutes recovery “jog.”
• 2:30 hard, :30 recovery. Repeat this 3-minute interval 6 times.
• Cool down 15 minutes.

Steady Interval Workout  - 64 minutes total, 18 minutes hard running

(This workout is inspired by my favorite track workout: 6x800m.)

• Warm up 20 minutes.
• 3 minutes hard, 1 minute recovery. Repeat this 4-minute interval 6 times.
• Cool down 20 minutes.

Ladder Pool Workout – 65 minutes total, 25 minutes hard running

(This workout is deceptively difficult. At the beginning it feels like no-problemo, but by the time you get up to the 4’s and 5’s and have only 1 minute to recover…oof it will work you!)

• Warm up 20 minutes.
• Ladder up and back down from 1 minute to 5 minutes, with 1 minute recovery between each. (So that’s 1hard, 1 easy, 2h/1e, 3h/1e, 4h/1e, 5h/1e, 4h/1e, 3h/1e, 2h/1e, 1h/1e)
• Cool down 10 minutes.

1’s and 2’s Interval Workout  - 76 minutes total, 18 minutes hard running

(This is a pretty moderate workout, for those days when you want to do something, but maybe aren’t quite up to the ladder or speed options.)

• Warm up 20 minutes.
• 2 minutes hard, 2 minute recovery. Repeat this 3-minute interval 6 times.
• 1 minute hard, 1 minute recovery. Repeat this 2-minute interval 6 times.
• 20 minutes cool-down.

Extended Recovery Tempo Run – 80 minutes, 20 minutes hard running.

(This is a moderate workout, a good one to do the day after speed work.)

• Warm up 20 minutes.
• 5 minutes hard, 5 minutes recovery. Repeat this 10-minute interval 4 times.
• Cool Down 20 minutes.

Downhill Ladder - 60 minutes total, 28 minutes hard

• Warm up 10 minutes.
• Ladder down from 7 minutes with half-time recovery (i.e. run hard for 7 minutes, then easy for 3:30, then hard for 6, then easy for 3, etc.).
• Cool down 10 minutes

1’s and 3’s Speed Workout – 65 minutes total, 16 minutes hard

(This is similar to the 1’s and 2’s workout, but it’s harder because the intervals are longer and the recovery is shorter. Make sure you run hard to make this worth it.)

• Warm up 20 minutes.
• 3 minutes hard, 1 minute easy, 1 minute sprint, 1 minute easy. Do this 6-minute interval 4 times (or more if you’re looking for a longer workout).
• Cool down 20 minutes

What are your favorite pool workouts? Share in the comments!

Weekend Report: Heat, Peace in Sudan Rally, and a Movie

Considering this was the hottest weekend of the summer, I spent way too much time outside. 

On Saturday, post-GREs (woot woot! I’m done!), I went to the Peace in Sudan rally in front of the White House. This month marks the 7-year anniversary of the date the U.S. declared the conflict in Darfur a genocide, so a group of Sudanese and other supporters gathered in the heat to demonstrate. Rallies generally aren’t my thing, but there is something inspiring about standing up for something you believe in. It was extremely uncomfortably hot (hotter in DC than the Sudan - yes, I checked), but my problems seem pretty minimal when put into that kind of perspective…

When I left the rally (2 hours was all I could handle), SpeedyKate and I opted to escape the sun and do an indoor pool workout at Wilson.

Our pool “long runs” are intense, but in a good way. I actually think I’m getting better workouts in the pool than I would be running outside in this dog’s mouth of a climate. Post-pool I was tired, but that didn’t stop me from making the trek up 15^th street to attend LOTR-Emily’s bar-b-q. We alternated between the back patio and her kitchen, both equally hot and sweaty locations. The good news is that when everyone is the same degree of soaked-in-sweat it really doesn't matter.

Sunday was a pleasant high-90s (oxymoron? Yes. But accurate.), so Kate and I tanned our shoulders and noses pool running outside at East Potomac Pool on Hains Point. We spent 90 minutes running, then a few more lounging in the water.

By Sunday evening I was exhausted and ready for a relaxing movie experience. Months ago I bought a Living Social coupon for West End Cinema in Foggy Bottom. I met a few friends to see The Trip, a movie that walked the fine line between funny and weird/boring, and luckily managed to stay on the funny side of that line.

I’m hesitant to recommend this movie, since I imagine a lot of people might hate it. But I can say that I laughed and enjoyed it – I like dry British humor.

The movie is cut together from a six-episode, semi-improvised BBC2 series, the premise of which is that Coogan, commissioned to act as food critic by the Observer newspaper, and actor Rob Brydon, allegedly the last choice among his mates for a traveling companion, embark on a voyage to the north of England to sample the fare at various high-end restaurants. Over several days, doleful Coogan and chipper, long-faced Brydon banter, mock-insult each other (or is it so mock?), recite Wordsworth and Coleridge, and compete to do the best imitations of sundry movie stars." (more info here)

Pool People

They’re a slightly quirky, spandex-clad, early-to-bed/early-to-rise bunch. They shamelessly strip in the locker room, flaunt flotation belts, and “lift” water weights. You know I’ve blogged about the people you run into, but now let’s delve into a potentially deeper degree of workout crazy. Pool people.

Running and swimming are both generally accepted and recognized as "normal," but pool running is in its very own league of odd.

 

From what I can tell, pool people fall into 5 major categories. (And when I say “pool people,” I’m referring to non-swimmers who use the pool).

1. Intense Runners

These people are in the pool for a specific purpose – to get a workout. Runners usually aqua-jog only when absolutely necessary (read: injured), but there are a growing number of people who incorporate pooling into their weekly training schedules to avoid overuse and pounding problems.  
In general, runners tend to be polite, aware of those around them, and friendly (I might be biased, since I count myself a member of this group).
Silly-looking? Yes.But don't be fooled, below that bobbing head an intense workout is occurring. 

2. Casual Runners

These people are understand the dynamics of aqua-jogging, they just do it slower and more leisurely than the “intense runners” out there.

There’s a nice sense of community when runners encounter members of their species in the same unfortunate predicament. What are you in here for? is a common question, as if the pool is a penitentiary. You can meet great people, but beware of the Chatty Cathys! Unfortunately, the very nature of a pool  dictates that there is no escape – your only option is to adjust your pace so that you don’t end up next to an unwanted friend. 

3. Water Aerobicizers

Yes, despite the fact that 80s babies are now well into their 20s, water aerobics is still a thing. And a lot of people do it!

Water aerobicizers are friendly and welcoming. They are clearly the matriarchs and patriarchs of the “water walking” lane, but happy to share with any polite person who comes along.
The demographic tends to be older, heavier, and most likely wearing some sort of colored/printed swim cap. It’s mostly women, but you’d be surprised by the number of men who get in on the action.
They bob in the shallow end, lifting their arms above their head in various languid ways. (I often wonder how much aerobics is involved this workout...but to each her/his own!)

4. Floppers

I can’t quite figure these people out. They’re in the water. Sometimes they wear flotation belts, and sometimes they carry water weights. But I can’t tell what they’re doing. They’re not quite swimming, but not quite pool running. Imagine a little kid playing in the pool. Now play the mental video back in slow motion. That is what these people look  like. Maybe they just like being in the water?

5. Beginning Swimmers

This category is the gray area between poolers and swimmers. I understand that beginners aren’t good enough to go in the swimming lanes, and I do support everyone learning how to swim...I just prefer they do it when I’m not around. I think of them as aggressive and especially splashy floppers. 

And there you have it, the people of the pool. Next time you're in any kind of aquatic facility, take a glance at the periphery lanes to see what I mean. 

And for those poolers out there, am I missing anything major? 

More from me on pools:

• Pooling and Why You Should Do It
• Mollie-Rant: Pools
• My New Favorite Pool
• Another Pool Rant
• Cross Training
• Aqua-Jogging: The best form of cross-training for runners

Weekend Report: Harry Potter and Pool Workouts

Well my childhood is officially over. Harry Potter, the sensation of my generation is finally finished - 7 books and 8 movies later -  we can now all move on and become adults. 

I’m really not a Potter-maniac -  I’ve read all the books and seen the movies, but I’ve never worn a cloak, stayed up all night for a premier, or read a book aloud to a non-fan in an attempted conversion (6x6, I’m looking at you). 

If you’re a long-term Eat Run Read-er, you may remember that  I consider myself much more of a LOTR fan, but really any epic fantasy battle will do...

The movie was definitely good. If you haven’t seen any of the previous ones, then you might want to catch up before going to this one. Especially Part 1 (which came out last summer)…you must see Part 1 for Part 2 to make sense. And a random PSA sidenote: Neville Longbottom got hot. Who knew???

Anywho, pre-Harry, I started my weekend in the water.

SpeedyKate and I are perfect pooling partners. (Go here if you're new to the concept of pool running/aquajogging/pooling.) She’s good at bringing the motivation, while I devise the plan. So on Saturday morning when she said 2-hour pool run, I sighed, agreed, and came up with a pool program to keep us entertained and working hard through those 120 minutes:

30”, [(3”/2”)x6]x2, 25”

It looks like math, but don’t be afraid! It’s simple Mollie-workout-notation, no calculating required. In English, it means:

• Warm up 30 minutes.
• Alternate 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes recovery, 6 times. (30 minutes)
• 5 minutes recovery between sets.
• Alternate 3 minutes hard, 2 minutes recovery, 6 times. (30 minutes)
• Cool down 25 minutes.

This workout will get you to 2 hours, and a level of tired you didn’t think possible in the pool.

Post-workout we met Jessica for brunch at Tonic – the mushroom/tarragon/goat cheese omelet is delish! (But opt for tater tots over the hash browns, the latter were a bit disappointing.)

Then I met some friends for  the aforementioned Harry Potter experience, followed my new favorite late-hot-weekend-afternoon snack: a shot of espresso over soy vanilla ice cream. You have got to try this.

Sunday was pretty chill – SpeedyKate and I met for yet another pool venture (this one slightly less intense, but a solid 70 minutes), then I lounged, studied, and baked.

Hope you had a wonderful weekend too!  

Weekend Report: Driver's License and Pooling

People are always telling horror stories about the DMV, but I’m here to say it’s actually not that bad! I entered the District DMV office at 11:15 Saturday morning, passport, phone bill with the mail-in stub that has my address still attached (fyi that little detail is key), CA driver’s license, and credit card in hand, totally prepared to abnegate* my CA statehood and 17-year-old picture in exchange for a summer of free public pool access.

Done and done. The worst thing about the whole experience was listening to the incredibly racist people next to me complain about DMV employees.

I read a Harper’s Magazine as I waited my turn, which is officially my new favorite thing. I realize it’s incredibly pretentious, but sooooo good! The articles are interesting and thought-provoking, and there are many many GRE words. I especially enjoyed an article on “The Language of Work.” The whole thing isn’t online without a subscription, but here’s an excerpt I found: Awesome, right?

Jargon, slogans, euphemisms, and terms of art are all weapons in the upgrade/downgrade tradition. We might class them together under the technical term bullshit, set out by philosopher Harry Frankfurt. The routine refusal to speak with regard to the truth is called bullshit because evasion of normativity--correctness being, after all, a standard external to one's personal desires--produces a kind of ordure, a dissemination of garbage, the scattering of shit. This is why, Frankfurt argues, bullshit is far more threatening, and politically evil, than lying. The bullshitter "does not reject the authority of truth, as the liar does, and oppose himself to it. He pays no attention to it at all. By virtue of this, bullshit is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are."

Anywho, by noon my CA license was put through the shredder and I had a shiny new DC card in hand – two years after moving here I can finally prove I’m a resident!

And I put that proof to good use. Sunday afternoon I donned a swim suit and walked to the Francis Pool in Foggy Bottom to pool run. (Shin splints as of Friday. Booooo! Am I in high school??? Apparently.)

Despite my annoyance at missing my Sunday long run, there are some benefits to pool running in an outdoor pool:

1. You can tan and exercise at the same time.
2. People watching is endlessly entertaining. I’ve decided there are 3 main demographics at the Foggy Bottom Pool: gay men, European couples, and people with kids. All equally annoy me when they get in my way, but amuse me as I observe their antics.
3. The pool is open until 8pm on weekdays...post-work pooling anyone?
4. No lanes, so I can free-form circumnavigate the deep end, circles, X'es, U-shaped routes are all acceptable.

Sunday afternoon I metro’ed to Arlington to meet my teammates for a happy hour and celebrate our coach’s birthday. (Happy Birthday George!) It’s weird to see running friends outside their natural habitat (the track). Like, makeup? Skirts? Straightened hair? Who are all these people? Turns out we look better when we're not running workouts at 6am...shocking! 

 Hope you had a good weekend too!

*Abnegate – v. reject, renounce

Pooling and Why You Should Do It

pool [pool]

- Noun

1. a small body of standing water; pond.

2. a still, deep place in a stream.

3. swimming pool.

pool [pool]

–verb (used without object)

1. to form a pool.

2. the act of aqua-jogging, as defined by Boston University distance runners.

pool [pool]

–adjective

1. of or for a pool: pool running.

Recently I’ve been raging quite a bit about my time in the pool, without explaining what I’m doing in there.

I’m pooling.

(I guess the official term for this ridiculous activity I engage in on an all-too-often basis is “aqua-jogging,” but I hate using the word “jogging” to describe anything I do - it just calls to mind a fanny pack-laden shuffle, aka nothing I want anything to do with.)

And though pooling cost me years of my life in rage-induced stress, not to mention chlorine-saturated skin and hair, pooling really is the best form of cross training for runners. Biking can get you a good cardio workout, but pooling actually simulates running. This means that if you do it properly, you can do a week of pool workouts and emerge in the same shape you went in.

Pooling is essentially no-impact running. So for the injured runner, the pool is the place to be. Just make sure that your form is correct. You should be upright and move your arms and legs just like running. Do not let your legs swerve off to the sides (bad form can put unnecessary strain on your knees and muscles). And it’s not about how fast you clock your laps – speed is completely irrelevant – forward motion is not the goal, running form is.

Watch a video of perfect pool form here.

The flotation belt is not absolutely necessary (I don’t use one), but if you’ve never pooled before, you may want to give it a shot.

And even if you’re not injured, one day in the pool a week can be a good supplement to your training – it’ll give your joints a rest, while maintaining your fitness.

My strongest caution is this: make sure you are working. Just because you’re in a pool moving your arms and legs does not mean that you are getting a workout. Just like running, you should feel tired when you’re done.

And because the pool is booorrriinnnngggg, I suggest doing some repeats, just to keep you motivated and engaged. I always start with a 15-20 minute warm-up and end with at least 5 minutes of cool-down.

Workout possibilities:

-       Four 5-minute hard reps with 5 minutes easy in between. (I just watch the clock on the wall.)

-       Ladder down from 7 minutes (with half-time recovery). So you run hard for 7 minutes, then easy for 3:30, then hard for 6, then easy for 3, etc.

-       3 minutes hard, 1 minute easy, 1 minute sprint, 1 minute easy, 3 minutes hard, etc…

I do not wish injury-mandate pool time on anyone (arg I wish I were running right now!), but it really is a great component to add to your training program.